This chapter discusses data minimalism as means of digital disengagement. It focuses on the case of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), a German hacker association that is known for high levels of digital skills and tech-political expertise. Specifically, it examines members’ ‘hacktivism’ during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Responding to COVID-related technology such as contact-tracing apps, the CCC presented recommendations and strategies for digital disengagement through data minimalism and technological downgrading. Advocating for partial or more substantial digital disengagement, the hacker association stressed that digital approaches are not preferable per se: instead, their adequacy should be assessed in relation to the specific problem, while also considering the advantages of low(er)-tech options. In this way, the hacker association confronted data expansionism and tech solutionism, which were flourishing under the pretext of epidemiological urgency. In exploring the CCC’s hacktivism, this chapter elaborates on digital disengagement as an informed choice and a matter of agency rather than an involuntary ‘anomaly’.
How can we achieve digital justice in the age of COVID-19? This book explores how the pandemic has transformed our use and perception of digital technologies in various settings. It also examines the right to resist or reject these technologies and the politics of refusal in different contexts and scenarios. The book offers a timely and original analysis of the new realities and challenges of digital technologies, paving the way for a post-COVID-19 future.How can we achieve digital justice in the age of COVID-19? This book explores how the pandemic has transformed our use and perception of digital technologies in various settings. It also examines the right to resist or reject these technologies and the politics of refusal in different contexts and scenarios. The book offers a timely and original analysis of the new realities and challenges of digital technologies, paving the way for a post-COVID-19 future.Leading experts in the field ask what digital justice looks like in a time of pandemic across various interdisciplinary contexts and spheres in science, technology and society from public health to education, politics and everyday life.